Announcing details of Buckinghamshire Museum Event, Aylesbury, Saturday 7th October 2023

The schedule for the afternoon at Discover Bucks Museum is as follows. The museum itself (https://www.discoverbucksmuseum.org/) is open from 10 until 5 so you are of course welcome to come for as long as you like but our timetable looks like this:-

14.00 - Meet and Greet

14.15 - Short tour of the gallery (led by Brett Thorn - Keeper of Archaeology)

14.30 - Introduction to the finds. The first time that the entire archive will have been in one place since first excavated.

15.00 - Dr Gabor Thomas (Associate Professor of Archaeology at the University of Reading) - The Marlow Warlord burial in the context of the Mid-Thames region

15.30 -Mat Bunker (Wodenshead Historical Services) - The objects in the burial in their wider early medieval European context

16.00 - Q&A and another opportunity to look at the finds

16.30 - Close

There is no available parking outside the Museum so you are advised to park in either the Friarscroft Car park (HP20 2TE) or Exchange Street car park (HP20 1QY).

Friarscroft car park has lots of available spaces and is very reasonable. It is next to Morrisons on the A413, with a short walk up the hill turning left into Church Street to reach the Museum.

https://www.buckinghamshire.gov.uk/parking-roads-and-transport/parking/find-a-council-car-park/friarscroft-car-park/

Exchange Street car park, is a short, signposted walk from Market Square to the Museum situated in the old part of the town near St Mary’s Church.

https://www.buckinghamshire.gov.uk/parking-roads-and-transport/parking/find-a-council-car-park/exchange-street-car-park/

If there are any more questions, please do ask

Looking forward to meeting you all on Saturday

Regards

Matt and Gabor

Announcing Marlow Warlord Museum Event Date

As some of you may have seen on the Marlow Warlord Facebook Page, we've been able to arrange a date for the top tier sponsors to come to Discover Bucks museum in Aylesbury to see all of the finds at first hand as well as some reconstructions of the object, to listen to a couple of talks on the burial and finds by Matt and Gabor and to ask us questions.

The date that we have is Saturday 7th October 2023 and the expected start time is 14.00.

Please let me know by return if you expect to be able to attend. If you're not then we will of course make all of the presentation materials available to you after the event.

Hope to see you in October

SUMMIT REACHED!

A huge thank you for your support and generosity in enabling us to achieve our upper funding target.  We are planning to launch a website and Facebook page early in the New Year which will carry updates on the analysis and arrangements for the campaign rewards.  

Thank you again and best wishes for the festive season.

I leave you with a photo to warm up a dank winter's day - taken on the penultimate day of the excavation in 36 degrees!

Best wishes

Gabor

The Final Push

Thanks to your generosity we are within touching distance of our upper funding target.  The conservation work on the grave goods is now in full swing and I'm able to report an exciting new discovery from the sword and scabbard. 

Shown below is the detail of an iron and copper-alloy stud formerly hidden in an  inconspicuous lump of corrosion.  Forming one of a pair, this provides crucial evidence for the suspension mechanism used for the scabbard, and a connection with other Anglo-Saxon sword burials of the Thames basin.

Please keep circulating the link so we can achieve our final total and reveal a host of further secrets from this fascinating burial.   

With thanks

Gabor

Target hit!

We have now surpassed our initial fundraising target! Thank you so much to everyone who has contributed. Your generosity will allow the Marlow Warlord’s story to be shared with the public in Buckinghamshire Museum, along with precious items from his burial. We can’t wait to let you and members of the public see this important discovery up close.

Donations are still welcomed to make further analysis of the Warlord possible with a focus on the skeletal remains pictured below. Initial examinations of the skeleton have shown us that he was well-built and muscular – evidenced by the well developed muscle attachments visible on his humerus (upper arm bone) and the large head (ball) of his femur (thigh bone). 

Further money raised will fund isotopic analysis of the remains to determine his origins, diet and health, and DNA analysis if ancient DNA is found to survive.

Within Touching Distance of First Target

Your generosity has helped to propel our campaign within touching distance of our minimum target and 60% of the way to our stretch target - that's phenomenal progress in only 2 weeks!

I'm pleased to report that a BBC History Magazine Podcast on the Marlow Warlord is now available, so please check it out: https://www.historyextra.com/period/anglo-saxon/marlow-warlord-podcast-gabor-thomas/

Happy listening and please do keep spreading the crowdfunding link.

Best wishes

Gabor

We've Hit the Halfway Mark!

Wow, what a week it's been for the Marlow warlord.  In a matter of days we've passed the halfway mark for our funding target and there's been a whirlwind of interest across the media.   

To whet your appetites, below is an X-ray of some of the grave goods courtesy of project conservator, Pieta Grieves of Drakon Heritage and Conservation.  While some of the artefacts are immediately recognisable (double looped buckle, pair of shears), the identity of others will only emerge with careful cleaning and analysis.  It's all to play for.

Thanks again for your generous support and please do keep spreading the link so we can reach our funding target.

With thanks

Gabor

What Lurks Within?

Shared below is a picture of a corroded lump detached from the scabbard of the Marlow warlord's sword.  Could this be an ornate sword bead or pyramid of the type known from other contemporary Anglo-Saxon sword burials?  Only further analysis and conservation will determine its true identity.

Thanks to your generosity we are well on the way (over 40%!) to answering this and many other questions.  

Please keep sharing the link and thank you again.

Gabor

Amazing progress!

Unbelievable that in less than two days the £2000 milestone has almost been reached, over 25% towards our target.  Thank you so much for your support and generosity and please do continue to send the link to friends and acquaintances.

With thanks

Gabor